Paper or plastic?

It's a question-- and an option-- we shoppers take for granted. But what if mid-Michigan followed San Francisco's suit and bagged plastic bags?

"I wouldn't have anything to put in my garbage cans!" says Lansing shopper Sarah Green.

"I have no idea what we would do," says Lake Lansing Meijer store director Chris Wilson.

Wilson says the idea of prohibiting plastic and replacing it with paper bags, cloth sacks or biodegradable plastic is pretty far out-- especially that last option. And packaging expert Harold Hughes of MSU's School of Packaging says there's a reason for Wilson's beliefs.

"[Biodegradable plastics] are not readily available," he says.

San Francisco hopes to replace plastic with its biodegradable brother, making the transition easier for those addicted to the stretchy white totes. It's also supposedly better for the environment, something Hughes disagrees with.

"As far as global warming goes, I think that connection is far-fetched. The advantage of plastic bags is the lowered cost, the convenience of using them as opposed to paper-- plastic bags very seldomly tear and dump your groceries out on the floor," he says.

And the cost of eliminating the typically cheap plastic bag is something stores can't yet grapple with.

"I'm sure there'd be some cost to having a biodegradable plastic bag, but I'm not sure what the cost would be," Wilson says.

That's because the cost is virtually unknown, according to Hughes.

"If biodegradable bags were readily available, they'd probably cost more than the bags being used now."

For now, area shoppers can have their pick of packing possibilities. Unlike their San Francisco counterparts, their shopping options are still in the bag.